Fantasy Premier League 2017/18: Tips and picks for Gameweek 19

Yet another week has gone by and yet another gameweek is already upon us - it has been an unremitting December! Nobody is complaining though, as the Premier League continues to bombard us with entertainment.

Gameweek 18 saw Manchester City continue their ruthlessness by dismissing an out-of-form Spurs 4-1 at the Etihad. David Silva missed the fixture owing to personal reasons, but City didn't seem to miss him much as their incredible depth came to their aid.

Silva's replacement Ilkay Gundogan put in a stellar performance, bagging a goal and an assist. From an FPL point of view, this game proved that Manchester City's midfielders are must-haves as four of them (Gundogan, Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane and Kevin De Bruyne) scored points in the double digits.

Harry Kane blanked yet again, much to the disappointment of around two-fifths of the FPL managers. The other popular Spurs asset Christian Eriksen would have blanked too if not for his consolation goal just before the final whistle that ended Spurs' misery. Crystal Palace and West Ham showed that they aren't relegation teams anymore by convincingly winning 3-0 against Leicester City and Stoke City respectively. Both wins impressively came away from home.

Arsenal and Chelsea bagged three points with scrappy 1-0 wins at home against Newcastle United and Southampton respectively. Both winners were spectacular goals, one a delicious volley by German playmaker Mesut Ozil, and the other a precise free kick by Spanish left wing-back Marcos Alonso.

Burnley failed to capture three points that would have seen them miraculously rise to fifth. They got a point as they drew 0-0 away to Brighton, keeping yet another clean sheet in the process. They were lucky though, as Glenn Murray sent his first-half penalty sailing into the crowd.

Romelu Lukaku and Jesse Lingard found the back of the net as United won 2-1 away at West Brom. Watford were down to 10 men for the third match in a row as captain Troy Deeney's harsh tackle saw him earn a deserved red card. Huddersfield hadn't scored away from home since the very first gameweek, but managed to put four past a hapless Watford defense.

Liverpool made history by becoming the first Premier League team to win four consecutive away games with a margin of at least three goals. The front three of Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Philippe Coutinho all found the net in their impressive 4-0 rout at Bournemouth.

Everton now have four wins in their last five games, continuing their terrific run under big Sam. Wayne Rooney missed a penalty and still managed to obtain double-digit FPL figures!

Please note that the deadline for gameweek 19 is at 18:45 GMT on Friday, December 22 (i.e. 00:15 IST on 23 December). Let's take a look at five tips to keep in mind as we head toward gameweek 19:

#5 Is it time for five power midfielders?

With forwards failing us in recent gameweeks, it could be the right time to let go of the heavy hitters up front and use the funds to beef up the midfield. There are five players who have scored more FPL points than Harry Kane and they are all at least £2.5 cheaper. There is a dearth of premium options up front, whereas there is a bounty of midfielders in the £8.5 to £10.5 range. Midfielders are considerably outperforming the strikers and are much better value for money.

Kane has blanked twice now, and with a tightly wound Burnley defense in gameweek 19 and a blank in gameweek 21, things don't look too good in the near future. Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus do not get enough game time as they are constantly being rotated, and Pep has made our lives difficult with his unpredictable choice of striker.

Alvaro Morata has been out with a minor back injury and frustratingly for many picked up his fifth yellow in the Carabao Cup, forcing him to miss the game against Everton. His lack of match fitness can see minutes taken off him in the upcoming tight stretch of fixtures as well.

Alexandre Lacazette has played the entire 90 minutes of a game on just two occasions this season and isn't worth his hefty £10.4 price tag. Lukaku has been in dismal form, scoring just thrice in his last 11 games. Zlatan Ibrahimovic has just made his return and it is highly unlikely that he will start games regularly in the near future.

Midfielders, on the other hand, have been raking in the points consistently. Premium midfielders like Raheem Sterling, Mo Salah, Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sane, Riyad Mahrez, Christian Eriksen and Philippe Coutinho have proven their worth by being in the points over the last few weeks.

With an abundance of talent imbibed in each one of them, they are bound to continue delivering goals and assists. Even lower budget midfielders like Son, Aaron Ramsey (until his injury), Wilfried Zaha, Jesse Lingard and Richarlison have impressed. With Paul Pogba back from his suspension, there is a surplus of options in midfield, and it could be time to free up funds elsewhere and set up an enviable midfield in your FPL team!

#4 Doubling up on Liverpool and Manchester City attackers

Liverpool's dangerous trio of Salah (left), Coutinho (center) and Firmino

If you sort the midfielders by form, this is what you get:

Four players from Manchester City and Liverpool feature in the top 5, and it could have easily been more. David Silva had scored 4 goals in 3 games before missing the game against Spurs due to personal reasons. Had he played the game, he would have probably featured in the above list too. Sane came back to form after a dry spell, with two assists last week. Gundogan, who replaced Silva, excelled with a goal and an assist as well.

In attack, Firmino scored an impressive 12 points with a goal and an assist. Aguero and Jesus have also been amongst the goals, but are unfortunately the subjects of frequent rotation by City's manager Pep Guardiola.

Liverpool have been blowing away teams recently and created history by becoming the first team to beat four teams on the road by a margin of over three goals. And when they score, it's generally their front three who're in the mix. In their recent 4-0 win over Bournemouth, Liverpool's front 3 accumulated a combined total of 3 goals, 2 assists and 5 bonus points. Salah is the league's surprise top scorer, and has been nothing short of magical this season. Coutinho, who is making his case for a move to Spain, lit up the Premier League with a surreal goal against Bournemouth and was unlucky to not have two goals as his swirling free-kick rattled against the top-right corner of the frame.

Manchester City have been blowing teams away. Period. Home or away, top team or not, City have been simply ruthless. They have scored 56 goals this season in just 18 games. Having won 16 games on the trot, City are all set to dominate and wrap up the league in style. The game against Spurs incredibly saw four midfielders retrieve double-digit points in FPL, and it doesn't look like this sort of point hoarding is going to stop soon.

Both Manchester City and Liverpool have the added incentive of having easy fixtures lined up. With their attacking mindsets and talented players backing that mindset, one can rest assured that they're going to have a handful of resounding victories in the near future. Doubling up on players has historically not proven to be a good strategy in FPL, and having cover from as many clubs as possible has been advised. Not this year. Doubling up on City and Liverpool's attacking assets seems to be the way to go right now. Imagine the number of points you can get if your midfield includes Coutinho, Salah, Sterling and De Bruyne!

#3 Start plotting for gameweeks 21 and 22

Harry Kane is a prime candidate for the triple captain chip in double gameweek 22

The first double gameweek of the 2017/18 season is coming soon! Double gameweeks can turn the tide quite drastically for FPL managers. It's quite important to plan it out a few weeks in advance so that nothing goes wrong, which means that it's time now to put on your thinking caps!

Tottenham's New Year's Eve clash against West Ham has been pushed to 4 January owing to security concerns. What this means for us FPL managers is that these two teams will not be featuring in gameweek 21. Instead, they'll have two games each in the following gameweek. This opens up plenty of opportunities for FPL managers to capitalize on.

Spurs face West Ham and Swansea. The Hammers face Spurs and West Brom. An obvious pick is the dangerous Harry Kane who could go berserk against either or even both teams. It's crucial to have a handful of players from both teams so as to effectively ensure more than 11 players feature in gameweek 22.

However, this shouldn't have a negative impact on gameweek 21, as hoarding up on these players would mean that there would be a shortage of players in gameweek 21. Having exactly 11 players from outside these two clubs in gameweek 21 could be detrimental too, as managers are bound to rotate players in this cramped festive period. It would be ideal to have a sound strategy going into this week itself.

Looking at having three to five players from Spurs and West Ham would be ideal. The best strategy would be to not make a transfer for gameweek 21 and to thus have two free transfers for gameweek 22. Also, it would make sense to keep one or two assets from Spurs and West Ham, as they can be benched in gameweek 21. Of course, this makes sense only if your substitutes are players who make the starting eleven. The basic idea is to make sure that you have eleven players playing in gameweek 21, and then have as many players from Spurs and West Ham as you can in gameweek 22.

Shipping in either Adrian or Hugo Lloris could be a good idea if you have Elliot as your reserve keeper. Elliot has an easy fixture against Brighton at home in gameweek 21. Gameweek 22 sees Adrian and Lloris feature in two games which gives them twice the chance of getting at least one clean sheet!

Good West Ham picks - Adrian (goalkeeper), Masuaku (Defender), Arnautovic (Midfielder)

Good Spurs picks - Lloris (Spurs), Vertonghen (Defender), Son (Midfielder), Eriksen (Midfielder), Kane (Striker)

#2 Beware rotation and suspensions

Morata won't feature against Everton as he faces a one-match ban due to the accumulation of five yellow cards

Frustratingly for Chelsea fans and nearly one-fifth of FPL managers, Alvaro Morata picked up his fifth yellow card in the dying moments of Chelsea's Carabao Cup quarterfinal against Bournemouth. After missing a week to injury, and coming on as a substitute last week, Morata will be missing yet another week due to suspension.

There are a handful of players who'll be missing in gameweek 19 due to the accumulation of five yellow cards over the season. These include Morata, Christian Benteke, Duffy and Doucoure. Troy Deeney, Jonjo Shelvey, Zeegelaar and Hogg will not feature as well as they are under red card suspensions. Lanzini has been handed a two-match ban for diving, and Tarkowski has been slammed with a three-match ban for violent conduct.

Another major factor that should keep us wary now is rotation. Big players were given a rest in recent gameweeks and it is likely to continue in the near future. It is crucial to have a squad of 15 regular starters so as to cover for rested players!

#1 Top picks for gameweek 19

Paul Pogba is back from suspension and will be looking to pick up from where he left off

Goalkeeper - Ederson - Manchester City (£5.5)

City play a magnificent possession game. In addition, their defense has been rock solid. Owing to these reasons, they haven't given their opponents much of a chance at goal. These factors, along with terrific goalkeeping from Ederson, have helped City concede the fewest goals in the league this season along with Manchester United.

He was unlucky not to keep a clean sheet last week as Eriksen scored a brilliant goal right before the final whistle was blown. Easier opposition this week in the form of Bournemouth at home should see the City keeper get clean sheet points. City have good fixtures lined up in the near future as well which could make him a worthy investment in your FPL team.

Defender - Jan Vertonghen - Spurs (£6.0)

Spurs haven't been in the best of form but they do have easy fixtures lined up now. Burnley have scored just 16 goals this season, and the chances of them scoring against Spurs are slim especially now that Davinson Sanchez is back from his suspension. With a double gameweek coming up for Spurs, it could be the right time to invest in the Belgian defender.

Midfielder - Paul Pogba - Manchester United (£7.9)

After a fantastic start to the season, Pogba missed seven league games thanks to a hamstring injury. He then returned with a dab as he scored and assisted against Newcastle United. He assisted three more goals in as many games, before being shown a red card for a mindless tackle on Hector Bellerin. Pogba is back following a three-match suspension. Manchester United have attractive fixtures lined up and the dangerous Frenchman could certainly explode!

Striker - Charlie Austin - Southampton (£6.2)

Austin has been showing glimpses of his 2014/15 self and has notched 5 goals this season in just 518 minutes on the pitch. He has scored 4 in his last 4 starts. He didn't make the starting eleven against Chelsea but came on as a second half-substitute and immediately made an impact by almost getting on the scoresheet. Facing Huddersfield at home this week, Austin is likely to find the back of the net.